


because you're the one i choose

by angelkoushi



Series: why do you love me? [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family Fluff, Gen, HQSwiftWeek2020, Songfic, Tenderness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:33:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26457238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelkoushi/pseuds/angelkoushi
Summary: Aiko wondered how her parents do it. It could have been anyone else, at any point in Kiyoko's life, if she wanted. But at the end of each day, regardless of what happens, Ryuu is the one she chooses.
Relationships: Shimizu Kiyoko/Tanaka Ryuunosuke
Series: why do you love me? [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1921708
Comments: 6
Kudos: 30





	because you're the one i choose

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Never Grow Up (Speak Now)
> 
> _"And even though you want to, just try to never grow up."_

***

The front door slamming rattled Kiyoko's teeth as she tiptoed on a stool, trying to hang up the last of the laundry. Then came the heavy footsteps, and what suspiciously sounded like sniffles as the sounds travelled across the house before fading as it got up the stairs.

She stepped down from the stool and peeked out into the living room, where Ryuu was already staring at her like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Want to play for who gets to go into the dragon's nest?" he said in a voice not above a whisper.

Despite herself, Kiyoko chuckled. "I'll spare you, love," she said before making her way upstairs.

The sniffles from behind one of the closed doors became unmistakable the closer Kiyoko got. Except that it sounded like the person in question was trying their hardest to muffle the sounds.

Kiyoko knocked. There came the sound of a breath hitching and the clearing of a throat in response.

"Not now, Ma." Kiyoko could see the reddened face and defensive scowl in that voice.

"Oh, honey."

There came an impatient huff. "I want to be by myself right now, if it makes any difference to you."

"Copy that, boss. We'll be right downstairs, okay?"

No response. Kiyoko took a step back, not at all surprised to be met with Ryuu's chest as he hovered behind her. His hands instinctively wrapped around each of her forearms, squeezing slightly as he steadied her in front of him.

"It's that bastard boy, isn't it?" he muttered against her hair. Kiyoko heard the edge in his voice despite him trying to keep it down.

Kiyoko placed a warm hand on her husband's cheek and gently drew him away from their daughter’s room. "We don't know that yet. Come on, let's wait for her to come down."

* * *

It took Aiko the whole hour to appear in their kitchen. When she did, a warm mug of hot chocolate with a generous helping of marshmallows greeted her red-rimmed eyes and swollen nose.

"Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes."

Aiko gave her Papa a withering look as she took her seat on the dining table. She held the mug of chocolate gingerly between two hands and savored the warmth of it spreading inside her stomach after taking a tentative sip. Despite his rather rough exterior, her Papa always made the best hot chocolate when everything about her day was crap.

Kiyoko sat herself in front of Aiko, thumbing away a stray tear. She smiled, careful and fond. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Aiko paused, then shook her head. Kiyoko nodded and gave Ryuu a stern look when he looked like he wanted to push it.

Ryuu sighed, defeated by mother and daughter. "Yeah, I figured a movie marathon is in order. The Hobbit? Lord of the Rings? Harry Potter? Star Wars, maybe?"

Aiko took another long sip of the hot chocolate, curling her fingers gingerly around the baby blue mug. After a moment of consideration, she said,

"10 Things I Hate About You?"

Kiyoko and Ryuu exchanged a look. Ryuu looked like he wanted to plead against it. Kiyoko raised a brow, and Ryuu huffed. There really was no winning against his woman.

"Romcoms it is."

* * *

Two hours later, sandwiched between her parents who she knew had their hands intertwined behind the couch, Aiko sniffled.

"This movie not working for you, honey?" asked Ryuu, moving to change it. Which was strange, because 27 Dresses was on and it was one of Aiko’s favorites.

Aiko blew a raspberry as she palmed away her tears. "No, Pa. It's just... Why is it that everything works out in the movies? Even for this one, you know they’re going to end up together, even if they started out as enemies."

"Well, it’s because they won't sell otherwise— ow!"

Aiko knew by instinct that her Ma had pinched her Pa. She chuckled at their antics as Ryuu rubbed his sore palm.

“It’s true though…”

Kiyoko fixed Ryuu a look, then said, "I think it's because of times like these, when we feel down and just need to see something that works out in the end."

"Why won't it just always work out in real life?"

"Because it’s not the end yet," pipped Ryuu. "I think life is not about what we see on the screen, but what comes after that. Those people have a long way to go, and it’s how they work things out together when the rains fall hard that really matters."

"And," added Kiyoko as she flashes Ryuu a soft smile, "it pays to learn to dance in the rain."

Aiko remained quiet for a long while. So long that Ryuu started in shifting in his seat, so obviously curious about what happened. Only Kiyoko's hand in his kept him quiet.

"You guys got it right the first time."

Ryuu and Kiyoko exchanged another meaningful look above Aiko's head. When Ryuu chuckled, Kiyoko mirrored him. Aiko tilted her head back to look at her parents.

"What's so funny?"

"Let's just say your Mama and I got it right around the hundredth try. Well, _my_ hundredth try."

"What?"

"She never gave me the time of day, darling. For the longest time I thought I was just some random underclassman to her."

"But he never gave up," said Kiyoko, and Aiko didn't fail to catch the fond look that glazed over her face. "I was too busy with the club and school, but he was always there. I didn't like him back because he liked me first, of course. Or not even because he was tenacious. But I think I started noticing him around the time we were waiting for our turn to play against Dateko."

Kiyoko laughed as she recalled the moment.

Ryuu sat up. He didn’t know this. "That long?"

"Yeah. You looked really good with a banana."

The three fell silent, until a breath fizzled out of Aiko and they fell into peals of laughter.

"What on earth, Ma!”

"No, but seriously! Ryuu, stop it."

"I could have been eating bananas a lot earlier if that was what it took to get to you!"

"I said it wasn't! It’s because you were a constant, and I knew you’d be there for me no matter what."

There was something sickeningly adorable about watching her parents’ bickering. They’ve been like that for as long as Aiko can remember, and they’ve been together for quite a long time. She always thought high school sweethearts were only a thing of fiction, but here they are.

It’s the things they do when they think she wasn’t looking.

Sometimes, she would catch them waltzing in the dimmed living room to her Papa’s soft singing, both undeniably content in each other’s arms. Sometimes they would be out watering out in the yard and their laughter would draw Aiko to her window, watching as they played with the watering cans and hoses like a pair of lovesick kids. Sometimes, on long drives, she would crack her eyes open and catch her Pa kissing the back of her Ma’s hand and her Ma smiling like she was the happiest person in the world.

And maybe she really is.

She fancied them as her own personal, live-action romcom. She only wished she could have what they have—preferably without the heartache, thank you very much.

It was strange; her friends would always talk about their parents working late hours, or telling them to do this or that, or fighting behind closed doors, thinking their children couldn’t hear. It wasn’t like Ryuu and Kiyoko never fought; Aiko could cite a few times when they were tense around each other and it unsettled the whole house. But it never lasts more than a day. Eventually someone would break (more often the person at fault) and they would talk it over and everything would be okay.

“You guys make it look easy.”

Ryuu and Kiyoko stopped mid-banter and looked down at their daughter. Ryuu, no doubt the one sweeter on Aiko, brushed his daughter’s hair in the way that always soothed her.

“What’s easy, darling?”

“This whole thing. How could you guys still be this in love with each other after, what, twenty-ish years? It’s like you guys never doubted, never fought. I mean, I know you do, but like… It never broke you, did it?”

“I suppose not, love,” said Kiyoko is a soft voice. “I can’t give you a formula for it, because there isn’t any. It’s just that, someday, you’ll find someone who is worth doing everything in life with: the happy, the sad, the angry. I choose your Pa, and he chooses me.”

She paused, and Aiko saw her gaze draw from herself to her Papa behind her. Aiko knew that the smile on her Mama’s face would be mirrored on her Papa’s as they laced their fingers on Aiko’s lap.

Ryuu’s voice was tender when it came. “Someday, somewhere out there, you could find someone you want to choose regardless of anything. When you do, it won’t be about you versus them; it will be about you and them against whatever shit the world throws at you.”

“Ryuu.”

Aiko scoffed. “Ma, you know I swear, right?”

Kiyoko huffed, flashing her husband a glare. “Unfortunately, I do. But let’s keep the language polite in this house, alright?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The chorus made them all laugh. Aiko snuggled closer against her Papa’s embrace, and her Mama placed a kiss on her hair.

“But if it’s all the same to you, Aiko,” started Ryuu again after a long pause, “can you forego dating until after college, maybe?”

“Not fair for you to ask that of me, Pa,” said Aiko. “You dated Mama in high school.”

“Well, she was graduating.”

“Same old.”

Ryuu sighed. “Fine, you win. But I reserve the right to be protective over you. Deal, baby?”

“I’m fourteen, pa.”

“Still my baby, and forever will be.”

Aiko rolled her eyes, but lifted a fist for Ryuu to bump. “Deal, Papa. As long as you let me do the dating and the breaking up part. Just be there for back-up or something.”

Ryuu sighed, but reassurance quickly flooded his face when Kiyoko reached over and held his hand. How does she do that, Aiko wondered, and how does her Pa do that to her Mama? The way they both know everything will be alright with just one look, one touch from each other?

Maybe it’s the years. Maybe it’s how much they know each other, how close their grown together. Maybe it’s what they said: they choose each other for everything.

“Can you just never grow up, Aiko?” Ryuu whispered as he resumed the movie. Snuggled together, the three of them made up one unit, and Aiko felt like the luckiest girl in the world.

“No can do, Pa.”

If she wanted what her parents have, Aiko would have to grow up too.

***

**Author's Note:**

> Here is my second piece for HQxTSwift Week 2020! I had such a warm, fuzzy feeling writing this. I needed to see one of the canon couples' lives after everything hihi.
> 
> If you liked my baby, please leave a comment or a kudos!


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